Walking off the chessboard: part 3
Walking off the chessboard: Sam and Lucifer and the role of the Scapegoat in SPN
( master post)
Part 3
The Scapegoat as truth teller
Perhaps because there is less pressure on the Scapegoat to project the “success” of the family (as with The Hero) and because of their position as the focus of the family’s negative attention, the Scapegoat often sees the family dynamic the most clearly, and therefore:
The Scapegoat in a family system is often the one who tells (or acts out) the truth in the family, the elephant in the living room that no one is talking about. It is this act of truth telling that makes them the target for family rebuke. (4)
Right away in the pilot, Sam displays this trait of telling difficult family truths in a confrontation with Dean over their family mission and its ties to their mother’s death, and Dean reacts negatively:
1.01
SAM
No. I'm not like you. This is not going to be my life.
DEAN
You have a responsibility to-
SAM
To Dad? And his crusade? If it weren't for pictures I wouldn't even know what Mom looks like. And what difference would it make? Even if we do find the thing that killed her, Mom's gone. And she isn't coming back.
DEAN grabs SAM by the collar and shoves him up against the railing of the bridge. A long pause.
DEAN
Don't talk about her like that.
Sam continues to question the family dynamic, most strongly throughout season 1 whenever John gives orders he expects his sons to follow.
The conversation between Sam and John in “In My Time of Dying” is particularly illustrative of the Scapegoat dynamic at work:
2.01
SAM
Did you think I wouldn't find out? ...That stuff from Bobby, you don't use it to ward off a demon, you use it to summon one. You're planning on bringing the demon here, aren't you? Having some stupid macho showdown?!
JOHN
I have a plan, Sam.
SAM
That's exactly my point! Dean is dying, and you have a plan! You know what, you care more about killing this demon than you do saving your own son!
JOHN
Do not tell me how I feel! I am doing this for Dean.
SAM
How? How is revenge going to help him? You're not thinking about anybody but yourself, it's the same selfish obsession!
JOHN
You know, it's funny, I thought it was your obsession too! This demon killed your mother, killed your girlfriend. You begged me to be part of this hunt. Now if you'd killed that damn thing when you had the chance, none of this would have happened.
Here, Sam confronts his father, expressing what he sees as the truth: that John cares more about the mission than what happens to his sons; and John in turn places blame for the YED’s escape as well as Dean’s serious injuries onto Sam, once again berating him for not falling in line with his father’s orders.
Sam tells other truths too: throughout the series he prods Dean into telling the truth about how he’s feeling. In “Something Wicked” it’s Sam who points out that Dean was only a child when their father put such a heavy responsibility onto him. In “Jump the Shark” Sam’s the one who wants to tell Adam the truth about the supernatural world and the family mission. In “I Believe the Children Are The Future,” Sam ultimately tells Jesse the truth about his parentage. In both “A Very Supernatural Christmas” and “The Dark Side of the Moon” Sam lays bare the painfulness of the Winchester holidays, and in the latter episode on witnessing one of Dean’s memories of his childhood, Sam wonders aloud how long Dean has been cleaning up their father’s messes.
Season 5 in particular shows Sam becoming more and more aware of how the family dynamic works and has effected his relationship with his brother. While in the past Dean has questioned the family’s sacrifice/vengeance cycle, Sam questions the family roles, how they interact.
5.05
SAM
[B]ut the point is, if we're gonna be a team, you and I-it has to be a two-way street.
DEAN
So we just go back to the way we were before?
SAM
No, because we were never that way before. Before didn't work. How do you think we got here?... one of the reasons I went off with Ruby...was to get away from you.... It made me feel strong. Like I wasn't your kid brother...All I'm saying is that, if we're gonna do this, we have to do it different, we can't just fall into the same rut.
DEAN
What do you want me to do?
SAM
You're gonna have to let me grow up, for starters.
What Sam’s asking for here is what the brothers had started to grow towards in season 1, before their father rejoined them and placed the burden of Sam’s fate on Dean’s shoulders again, undoing the strides they’d made towards an equal partnership. Throughout the series, there are many similar examples of Sam playing the role of truth-teller.
Lucifer also tells his family’s uncomfortable truths, and even examines the roles he and his brother Michael are filling. While it may be meant to manipulate his potential vessel into saying yes, Lucifer points out one of the paradoxes about God that have troubled many people:
5.01
LUCIFER
After all, how could God stand idly by while that man broke into your home and butchered your family in their beds? There are only two rational answers, Nick-either he's sadistic, or he simply doesn't care. You're angry. You have every right to be angry. I am angry, too. That's why I want to find him-hold him accountable for his actions. Just because he created us doesn't mean he can toy with us, like playthings.
NICK
How do I know you're telling the truth?
LUCIFER
Because, contrary to popular belief, I don't lie. I don't need to.
As far as I remember, Lucifer never does lie, though he does manipulate. In “The End” Lucifer even explicitly describes himself in the role of Scapegoat and links it to his telling the truth about humanity as he saw it:
5.04
LUCIFER
I said, "These human beings are flawed, murderous." And for that, God had Michael cast me into hell. Now, tell me, does the punishment fit the crime? Especially, when I was right? Look at what six billion of you have done to this thing [God’s creation], and how many of you blame me for it.
He’s not wrong about humans, though his perspective is narrow. He even reveals a horrible truth to Sam, pointing out how deeply the infiltration by YED’s demons was in Sam’s life:
5.22
LUCIFER
Look closely. None of these little devils look familiar to you?
SAM:
That's Mr. Bensman... one of my grade-school teachers.
LUCIFER
And that's your friend Doug from that time in East Lansing. And Rachel... Your prom date. Sam Winchester, this is your life. Azazel's gang -- Watching you since you were a rugrat, Jerking you around like a dog on a leash.
Most of his truth telling comes off as very manipulative in context, but the conversation between Lucifer and Michael in 5.22 reads more honest to me, and also questions the roles he and Michael are playing in the angelic family, just as Sam does in 5.05:
5.22
LUCIFER
Think about it. Dad made everything. Which means he made me who I am! God wanted the devil... So why? And why make us fight? I just can't figure out the point. ...We're going to kill each other. And for what? One of dad's tests. And we don't even know the answer. We're brothers. Let's just walk off the chessboard.
Lucifer has no more love for humans than any of the other angels, but he’s not remotely interested in the Apocalypse, or in fighting his brother, though he continually questions God and the heavenly family, and this -- if you take his story at face value (and no one disputes it) -- is what earns him his place in hell, as the ultimate Scapegoat.
( part 4)
***Please note that in discussions to these posts (assuming there are any!) I'm going to insist that the terms be used as intended here, and not with a wider or more general definition (for example, there is a clinical definition of "depression" that differs from the more general use of the word "depression" -- this is a similar case). Minimizing arguments like "all families are dysfunctional in their way" or anything that starts to stray into rehashing of old fandom wars over Season 4 will be heavily moderated. But please feel free to ask questions!***
( master post)
Part 3
The Scapegoat as truth teller
Perhaps because there is less pressure on the Scapegoat to project the “success” of the family (as with The Hero) and because of their position as the focus of the family’s negative attention, the Scapegoat often sees the family dynamic the most clearly, and therefore:
The Scapegoat in a family system is often the one who tells (or acts out) the truth in the family, the elephant in the living room that no one is talking about. It is this act of truth telling that makes them the target for family rebuke. (4)
Right away in the pilot, Sam displays this trait of telling difficult family truths in a confrontation with Dean over their family mission and its ties to their mother’s death, and Dean reacts negatively:
1.01
SAM
No. I'm not like you. This is not going to be my life.
DEAN
You have a responsibility to-
SAM
To Dad? And his crusade? If it weren't for pictures I wouldn't even know what Mom looks like. And what difference would it make? Even if we do find the thing that killed her, Mom's gone. And she isn't coming back.
DEAN grabs SAM by the collar and shoves him up against the railing of the bridge. A long pause.
DEAN
Don't talk about her like that.
Sam continues to question the family dynamic, most strongly throughout season 1 whenever John gives orders he expects his sons to follow.
The conversation between Sam and John in “In My Time of Dying” is particularly illustrative of the Scapegoat dynamic at work:
2.01
SAM
Did you think I wouldn't find out? ...That stuff from Bobby, you don't use it to ward off a demon, you use it to summon one. You're planning on bringing the demon here, aren't you? Having some stupid macho showdown?!
JOHN
I have a plan, Sam.
SAM
That's exactly my point! Dean is dying, and you have a plan! You know what, you care more about killing this demon than you do saving your own son!
JOHN
Do not tell me how I feel! I am doing this for Dean.
SAM
How? How is revenge going to help him? You're not thinking about anybody but yourself, it's the same selfish obsession!
JOHN
You know, it's funny, I thought it was your obsession too! This demon killed your mother, killed your girlfriend. You begged me to be part of this hunt. Now if you'd killed that damn thing when you had the chance, none of this would have happened.
Here, Sam confronts his father, expressing what he sees as the truth: that John cares more about the mission than what happens to his sons; and John in turn places blame for the YED’s escape as well as Dean’s serious injuries onto Sam, once again berating him for not falling in line with his father’s orders.
Sam tells other truths too: throughout the series he prods Dean into telling the truth about how he’s feeling. In “Something Wicked” it’s Sam who points out that Dean was only a child when their father put such a heavy responsibility onto him. In “Jump the Shark” Sam’s the one who wants to tell Adam the truth about the supernatural world and the family mission. In “I Believe the Children Are The Future,” Sam ultimately tells Jesse the truth about his parentage. In both “A Very Supernatural Christmas” and “The Dark Side of the Moon” Sam lays bare the painfulness of the Winchester holidays, and in the latter episode on witnessing one of Dean’s memories of his childhood, Sam wonders aloud how long Dean has been cleaning up their father’s messes.
Season 5 in particular shows Sam becoming more and more aware of how the family dynamic works and has effected his relationship with his brother. While in the past Dean has questioned the family’s sacrifice/vengeance cycle, Sam questions the family roles, how they interact.
5.05
SAM
[B]ut the point is, if we're gonna be a team, you and I-it has to be a two-way street.
DEAN
So we just go back to the way we were before?
SAM
No, because we were never that way before. Before didn't work. How do you think we got here?... one of the reasons I went off with Ruby...was to get away from you.... It made me feel strong. Like I wasn't your kid brother...All I'm saying is that, if we're gonna do this, we have to do it different, we can't just fall into the same rut.
DEAN
What do you want me to do?
SAM
You're gonna have to let me grow up, for starters.
What Sam’s asking for here is what the brothers had started to grow towards in season 1, before their father rejoined them and placed the burden of Sam’s fate on Dean’s shoulders again, undoing the strides they’d made towards an equal partnership. Throughout the series, there are many similar examples of Sam playing the role of truth-teller.
Lucifer also tells his family’s uncomfortable truths, and even examines the roles he and his brother Michael are filling. While it may be meant to manipulate his potential vessel into saying yes, Lucifer points out one of the paradoxes about God that have troubled many people:
5.01
LUCIFER
After all, how could God stand idly by while that man broke into your home and butchered your family in their beds? There are only two rational answers, Nick-either he's sadistic, or he simply doesn't care. You're angry. You have every right to be angry. I am angry, too. That's why I want to find him-hold him accountable for his actions. Just because he created us doesn't mean he can toy with us, like playthings.
NICK
How do I know you're telling the truth?
LUCIFER
Because, contrary to popular belief, I don't lie. I don't need to.
As far as I remember, Lucifer never does lie, though he does manipulate. In “The End” Lucifer even explicitly describes himself in the role of Scapegoat and links it to his telling the truth about humanity as he saw it:
5.04
LUCIFER
I said, "These human beings are flawed, murderous." And for that, God had Michael cast me into hell. Now, tell me, does the punishment fit the crime? Especially, when I was right? Look at what six billion of you have done to this thing [God’s creation], and how many of you blame me for it.
He’s not wrong about humans, though his perspective is narrow. He even reveals a horrible truth to Sam, pointing out how deeply the infiltration by YED’s demons was in Sam’s life:
5.22
LUCIFER
Look closely. None of these little devils look familiar to you?
SAM:
That's Mr. Bensman... one of my grade-school teachers.
LUCIFER
And that's your friend Doug from that time in East Lansing. And Rachel... Your prom date. Sam Winchester, this is your life. Azazel's gang -- Watching you since you were a rugrat, Jerking you around like a dog on a leash.
Most of his truth telling comes off as very manipulative in context, but the conversation between Lucifer and Michael in 5.22 reads more honest to me, and also questions the roles he and Michael are playing in the angelic family, just as Sam does in 5.05:
5.22
LUCIFER
Think about it. Dad made everything. Which means he made me who I am! God wanted the devil... So why? And why make us fight? I just can't figure out the point. ...We're going to kill each other. And for what? One of dad's tests. And we don't even know the answer. We're brothers. Let's just walk off the chessboard.
Lucifer has no more love for humans than any of the other angels, but he’s not remotely interested in the Apocalypse, or in fighting his brother, though he continually questions God and the heavenly family, and this -- if you take his story at face value (and no one disputes it) -- is what earns him his place in hell, as the ultimate Scapegoat.
( part 4)
***Please note that in discussions to these posts (assuming there are any!) I'm going to insist that the terms be used as intended here, and not with a wider or more general definition (for example, there is a clinical definition of "depression" that differs from the more general use of the word "depression" -- this is a similar case). Minimizing arguments like "all families are dysfunctional in their way" or anything that starts to stray into rehashing of old fandom wars over Season 4 will be heavily moderated. But please feel free to ask questions!***